1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a power feed connector used, for example, for charging an electric car, and more particularly to a low insertion-force power feed connector which can be quite easily attached to and detached from a power-receiving connector with a small force.
2. Related Art
One conventional power feed connector of the type described is shown in FIG. 8 (Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 6-188044).
In this power feed connector a, as means for moving a connector body c (which receives a plurality of terminals b therein) forward and backward relative to a connector casing d, there are used leverage and a spring e. More specifically, there is provided a mechanism by which when a lever f is grasped, the connector body c is pushed through a handle g, with pins P.sub.1 and P.sub.2 serving as a fulcrum and an operating point, respectively, and with this construction the power feed connector can be fitted relative to a power-receiving connector with a low insertion force. The rate of reduction of the insertion force at this time is expressed by (L.sub.1 /L.sub.2).times.100(%) where L.sub.1 represents the distance between the fulcrum P.sub.1 and the operating point P.sub.2, and L.sub.2 represents the distance between the fulcrum P.sub.1 and a force-applying point P.sub.3 of the lever f.
In the above power feed connector a, since the lever f is grasped by one or two hands, it is impossible to obtain a large lever stroke. More specifically, since the distance L.sub.2 is actually not so large, it is impossible to obtain a large stroke of the connector body c. Therefore, the size of the connector body and the low insertion-force design are limited, and there has been encountered a problem that this construction can not be put into practical use as a large-size connector for supplying a large electric current.